Marion Agnew

Here are five things I'd like to remember from February. Not all pleasant, but notable. One. Sometimes it’s worth going into rooms you don’t go into often, just to make sure there’s no dead bird lying in the floor. It apparently fell down the chimney of a long-unused woodstove. I mean, if it had actually happened, which it did, hypothetically. And I guess come spring it’s worth looking into what happened to the screen over that chimney. Roy says it was an owl. I didn’t look too closely. Two. There may come a day when I don’t enjoy shoveling snow—and for sure if I had to do it more often and for longer sessions than I do, I’d be less enthusiastic—but there’s also something reassuring about accepting snowfall in SOME places (grass, trees, rocks, lake ice) but not HERE or HERE (sidewalk, back deck, front porch). Control, but really an illusion of it, because we all know that the snow’s really in charge here. Three. Two words: finishing sugar. I get it now. I don’t understand why pe...

I'll be appearing (from a distance) at the Brockton Writers Series on March 12! Along with other writers who will no doubt be there in person! Here's the basic info about the event: Wednesday, March 12, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. Brockton Writers Series presents readings by: Stephanie Cesca Ben Berman Ghan Anthony Oliveira Marion Agnew Our event will be hosted in person at the Glad Day Bookshop, located at 499 Church St., Toronto. We will also live stream the event on the  Brockton Writers Series YouTube channel ! The event starts at  6:30  p.m. The reading is PWYC and features a Q&A with the writers afterward. I wish I could be there in person, but I'm grateful to their dedication to include non-Toronto writers!  And here's a link to a post on their blog from me, in which I answer interview questions no one has asked . I encourage you to read the other blog posts, too--so fun to hear from other writers in advance! 

Back in the Days of Yore (pre-lockdowns—actually, more than a decade ago, wow, what even is time) I’d periodically get four-hour coffees with a specific writer-friend who is also a musician.   One of the questions we’d mull over is “What is the writer equivalent of scales?” Another was its related idea, “What is a practice session for writers?”   Obviously, the questions don’t have a 1:1 answer. Musicians perform, and although writers can perform also, it’s rarer. Perhaps. For me, anyway. As a writer of things on paper (vs. writing works for performance), I don’t focus on a performance element of my work, though I’ve grown to enjoy the more performative opportunities for readings and conversations. An accident, but I like it!   But! Back to a scale—a form that musicians can practice to gain muscle memory and general mastery.   For me, the equivalent is a daily writing practice. My practice varies, in terms of form, result, and effectiveness (and even ...